News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Another human case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu) was confirmed in Vietnam today, bringing total confirmed cases to 11, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The case involved a 4-year-old boy who fell ill Dec 22, was hospitalized a week later, and is now fully recovered, the WHO said. Vietnam now has had eight confirmed cases, and Thailand has three. Six cases in Vietnam and two in Thailand were fatal.

(CIDRAP News) – As the human and animal toll from H5N1 avian influenza continued to rise, United Nations health and agricultural officials at a conference in Rome today endorsed selective vaccination of poultry to fight the spread of the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – The United States proposed today that a small group of experts be appointed immediately to plan a fast response in case an influenza pandemic erupts, as an international conference on avian and pandemic flu continued in Geneva.

(CIDRAP News) – Avian influenza has been ruled out in a 14-year-old Turkish boy who died over the weekend and in three siblings who were hospitalized with him, according to news services.

Tests on the four children were negative for avian flu, according to Turkish health officials quoted in an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report published yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Hong Kong government officials recently announced that a wild bird found dead near a busy shopping district on Dec 31 tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza.